"What a fine day, for science!"

  Victor

  While Illiana sped off to care for Juliette, the rest of us made our way on foot back to Dion's Rest. Meli was already there and of course I grilled everybody some dinner while we waited for Hanzo and Nenewyn. Once those two arrived, we gathered in the common room and got right down to business. Everyone else was sitting down while I was standing in front of a large slate rectangle that I had Illiana make for me with her Earth Magic a while back. Yep - I'd brought the chalkboard out of storage for this one.

  “All right, ladies and gentlemen,” I began. “In order to best formulate my plan for what's going on in the Green Reach I'm going to need to go over some magical theory with you.”

  Everyone nodded.

  Sylfie said, “I certainly hope you plan to include information about the advanced science from your old world.”

  I gave my usual air-tapping gesture, smiling, “Yes, as a matter of fact, since it involves my mobile device, and knowledge that some of us here are already keenly aware of. Some months ago, I commissioned Miss Meli to create a new pattern spell - Meli’s Mystical Marker Matcher. With this spell we were able to compare samples from Val and Selafyn and confirmed that they are father and son as we suspected. If our objective is to stop a civil war by proving that Prince Ramon is the son of King Antonio, we have that covered.”

  Sylfie nodded, “Indeed, that does seem to be the right spell for the job.”

  I said “But it ain’t enough to just use the spell on them; Which is what brings me to today’s discussion. For those of you who may not know, I found out that Meli can access my mobile device with her pattern magic. Working in conjunction with light magic, we can project images stored on the device onto any surface.”

  Mal said, “Without the intense magical energy investment of a complex illusion, mind you. That was a mere novice grade light spell I was using. Miss Karga was feeding me a teeny-tiny transparent image, through which I projected light onto the ceiling.”

  Meli said, “And I reckon the way I was readin’ your li'l ol' SD card didn’t take much effort either!”

  Rayna said, to Mal, “You speak of the night that Victor set you down the path of redemption?”

  Mal nodded in the affirmative; ah, he must have told her everything - are they sure they’re only having a physical fling? Well, moving on.

  I wrote on the blackboard as I spoke, ”Energy is energy, whether created by magic or technology. It was this basic principle that enabled Meli to interact with my smartphone’s storage. It followed, I thought, that patterns must follow the same principle.” I drew a picture of the smartphone, and a block of binary meaning nothing in particular. “Patterns are patterns whether made by God, nature, magic, or technology. All data is stored in a pattern of zeros and ones - on and off. Meli’s pattern detection allowed her to get a decent understanding of binary code.”

  I checked the faces of my audience. Everyone was enraptured even if they didn’t understand; of course the three dedicated mages were laser focused on me. I continued.

  “Our first successful test involved her randomly fishing around inside the data until she found a pattern that matched what an image ought to be.”

  Meli put in, “Hoo-wee that was quite the undertakin’! First I wound up transcribin’ a picture of the guts of the phone somethin’ called the circuit board.” She pulled out a handkerchief, “See, kept this as a souvenir!” She passed it around, a little cloth with a circuit board printed thereupon. Of course everyone was keenly interested in getting a good look at it. “But I kept on tryin’ until at last I got where I was supposed to be! Them’s some complicated patterns I tell ya what! Gimme enough time an’ maybe I can make a version that anyone can use.”

  Sylfie said, “The hardest part about researching new spells is figuring out the necessary magical notation to make it teachable. It’s especially difficult in the case of sorcerers, or sorceresses as the case may be, because their magic is more intuitive than academic. Then there’s the issue of material components, foci, incantations, gestures…there is a reason why mages who manage to invent new spells used by the masses are geniuses. The majority of innovators simply find new uses for old spells or find ways to make them more efficient.”

  Meli said, “Well it woulda been much easier to just access whatever was on-screen at the time but Mister K wanted to try the hard way to prove it could be done.”

  I nodded, and drew again. A stick figure next to the smartphone, and two more stick figures a ways away; I connected the phone by way of a dotted line.

  “What if,” I said, pausing to stroke my chin, “We were to do it the other way around? Send information to the phone by means of magic. Start with something simple - words to my notepad app, or the text messenger.”

  I demonstrated each of these apps for everyone and let them pass around the device to examine it.

  Meli said, eyes downcast and a finger laid across her upper lip, “I reckon if we attached the same pattern spell I used to access yer data to a transmission spell…”

  Sylfie said, “You would need to reverse the polarity of the spell’s mana flow.”

  Nenewyn nodded, “Aye, that seems the correct move in order to go from a read function to a write function. But even if we did use a transmission, that requires a person to be the target; such a person could theoretically hold the phone and channel the energy into his or her hand.”

  Meli said, “Well why don’t we give it a try, sugs? I’ll hold the smarty-phone and one of y’all can try and send me somethin’”

  Sylfie said “On it!” She concentrated and began her incantation.

  Meanwhile I said to Nenewyn “So can you walk me through exactly what goes on when you cast that thing?”

  Nenewyn pressed her specs and said, “First you gather a somewhat large amount of magical energy at your fingertips, linked to your mind. Second, you imagine the person you wish to send a message to; the reason why you must needs be familiar with the target is because that is what the spell uses to locate the person in question. Third, you speak the message as part of the incantation. Fourth, finish the spell with the final words and a gesture.”

  I heard Meli say “shucks” in the background, and then I heard Sylfie start chanting again.

  I nodded, “Then what happens?”

  “The message is sent through an astral conduit unerringly to its intended recipient. The effect is nigh instantaneous.”

  “So it goes at warp speed, like a homing missile, to where it has to be. How is it that even someone with no mana, like me, is able to send a reply?”

  “Oh shucks, I done renamed one of his folders with that one!” Meli said, in a huff.

  Nenewyn said “The spell uses enough magical energy for two jumps. It goes to the target, and back, regardless of if an actual response was made.”

  Like a boomerang, well, a video game boomerang anyway. “So why is it that it can only send twenty-five words, and how come it uses so much power that doing it multiple times tires you out?”

  “Repeating any single spell above intermediate grade more than once in rapid succession is taxing,” said Nenewyn, “It is the reason why Sylfaena only uses one or two fireballs a day at most. In addition to the energy cost, casting it too many times in a short timeframe can cause burnout. As for the limitation on message size, hmm, that has to do with the fact that so much magical energy is being directly pumped into a person’s brain all at once. The basic version of transmission can safely encapsulate a message that size, while the greater version can go as high as a hundred.”

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  “It almost sounds like you’re talking about data compression. Like the higher grade version of transmission is more efficient at squeezing in information.”

  She nodded, “Aye, data compression sounds like a reasonable term - I may well appropriate it for my own purposes. Although the cost of casting Greater Transmission is far higher, the actual amount of magical energy sent to the recipient remains the same. Much of the energy is lost in locating and travelling to the target of the spell across great distances.”

  I wrote down some basic pictogram equations on the board; too much magic to the brain equals pain. Just as I was about to ask Nenewyn more questions about magical communication - Meli cried out, “Mister K!”

  Naturally, Mal and I both turned to her and said “Yes?”

  Hanzo sighed, “You’re doing that on purpose.”

  “Guilty as charged,” I said with a grin and a salute. “What’s up, Meli?”

  Meli showed me my phone, huh - I had a new message? How?

  [number unknown] “If you can read this, we’re officially in business.”

  Well I’ll be a Rhode Island Rooster. “Well done, you two! Well done! Meli, how did you do it?”

  Meli hopped up and started writing frantically on the chalkboard.

  Nenewyn said, “Oh, this is fascinating. You used lightning magic to change the magical energy into something that Victor’s device is capable of reading.”

  “That ain’t the half of it,” I said. “She also managed to ping the SMS protocol and send me an actual text message. Or hell, she might even have found my SIM card.”

  Man, that goes to show how much we take for granted back in my former world. I know some things about mechanical stuff but I don’t know nearly enough about how complicated electronics actually work. Don’t even get me started on the internet - I don’t think even network engineers fully understand it.

  Nenewyn said, “Hmm, if I made a few minor alterations to Transmission I could send a message to your device remotely without the need for an intermediary.”

  Sylfie said, “The only problem is…well, the obvious limitations of Transmission.” She shrugged and sighed, palms outstretched. “It seems impractical for the energy expenditure.”

  “All the same,” I said, “We’ve proven that it can be done and that’s just the first step. Besides, we’re not going to be using Transmission specifically. We’re gonna try something completely different.” I stepped up to the blackboard and drew a small circle. “So Transmission is like a large packet of data wrapped in magical energy. What if…” I erased the box and made a line of smaller boxes, “What if we were to send it as a continual stream of information, little by little instead of one big blast all at once?”

  Nenewyn and Sylfie considered for a moment, and looked at each other. Sylfie nodded and said, “That would make it easier on the recipient. The magical energy flow would need to be constant, though, which could be taxing on the magic-user…”

  I nodded, we were getting somewhere, “But what if we cut out the mage and the recipient out entirely and just linked my smartphone to some kind of magic device?”

  Sylfaena did the same palm-pound gesture I’d seen Illiana use, and her eyes sparkled. “Of course! A magic tool for transmitting…if it’s keyed to the same pattern Meli found, it should…ah!“ She crossed her arms and gave an admonishing look. “All right, little brother, now you must tell me exactly what you plan to do - otherwise I can’t even begin to figure out the solution.”

  I told her in no uncertain terms what I intended to do. There was a great deal of back and forth as we went over the logistics of the plan plus a great deal of technical stuff that I only half understood. I also spoke a great deal about the history of communications tech from my former world, what radio waves were, among other things. Oh don’t worry, I’ll divulge all kinds of details later - never explain a plan until it’s implemented, or you’ll jinx it!

  Hanzorian said, at length, “If this works, it could revolutionize long-distance communication and make my job that much easier. Lady Nenewyn, I would have you work in conjunction with our artificers for the purposes of developing something the Shadar’Kethal can use in future operations.”

  Nenewyn smirked confidently, “As you command - but the creation of a standalone pair of two-way magical communications tools will still require weeks if not months of development. But, thanks to Victor’s insight we have a good starting point I think.”

  Sylfie nodded and turned to me. “That having been said, it shouldn’t take us more than a few hours to put together what you need, Victor. I trust you have a contingency plan in case it doesn’t work?”

  I said, “Of course.” I tapped my temple. “There’s always one in the chamber.”

  Naturally I explained my contingency plan, which was admittedly much easier than my primary plan.

  Sylfie said, “Just as Illiana said - you love coming up with elaborate ideas just to prove that they’re possible.”

  Mal gave a hearty laugh. “How nostalgic. Ah, I can hardly wait to see the results.”

  Guy said, “I could do with a break from all this talk of magical theory. ‘Tis all rather beyond my comprehension.”

  Rayna nodded. “Hmm. Yes. I don’t imagine I understood even a quarter of that.”

  A break actually sounded nice, so I cleared my throat and said. “All right. We can put the serious stuff on pause for now.” Oh good, they seemed to understand me based on context as I realized after I said it that I was using a damn idiom instinctively again.

  Hanzo said, “On that note, I have a personal matter I wish to discuss.”

  “Oh?” I said.

  Hanzo brought out a leaf-wrapped bundle from inside of one of his belt pouches; oh, it was a smaller version of the magic backpacks we’d bought back then. When he unwrapped it I saw that it contained a stack of flat rectangular biscuits that looked somewhat familiar.

  He said, “Princess Vardrina made these. I would have you taste one and tell me your opinion.”

  I nodded and took a nibble; huh. Wait. This almost…

  “It…tastes somewhat like a graham cracker but there’s something off…”

  “I knew it,” Hanzo sighed. “There is a piece of the recipe that we’re missing.”

  I asked “Wait how did you get the recipe?”

  Nenewyn said, “A utility-grade pattern magic spell can analyze a given culinary compound and inform the magic-user of what it is made of. The two ingredients we couldn’t figure out were redolent tree bark and extract of wild orchid.”

  Huh? I don’t get it. “So if something has an ingredient you don’t know about, it gives an approximation of what it is?”

  Nenewyn nodded. “Correct.”

  Hmm interesting. So the spell must search the caster’s mind for terminology. “Do you have a scroll of that spell? Maybe my knowledge can-”

  Hanzo shook his head, “We have exhausted the supply of the sweet biscuits we had. Even if we had time for Lady Nenewyn to inscribe a scroll, you would be bereft of a target.”

  Damn. Hmm I suppose I could resort to some good old fashioned deduction,

  “Tree bark is easy enough - there’s only one type of bark we use for flavoring, and that’d be cinnamon.”

  Hanzo said, “That word is unknown to me - it comes through her highness’ comprehension untranslated, which means that we have yet to encounter the substance. What about the orchid?”

  “Well an orchid is a flower, the fact that you have a word for orchid is promising.”

  Nenewyn said, “The primalborn are known for cultivating orchids.”

  I nodded to acknowledge her, then I started pacing in thought. What flower could be used as a flavoring in graham crackers? My mind raced through hundreds of images. Spices, herbs, extracts. Huh? Extracts? Wasn’t there one flavor that was always represented by the picture of a flower whether it was yogurt or ice cream-

  I snapped my fingers, “Vanilla! That’s gotta be it!”

  Hanzo cradled his chin in his hand. “So, the primalborn may have access to this flavor and not even realize it. If not, perhaps the plant is somewhere nearby. As for this cinnamon…”

  “One sec,” I fished my field guide out of my coat pocket and flipped through it. “Here. Cinnamomum verum, native to Sri Lanka. That’s what the trees look like,” I showed Hanzo and Nenewyn the picture.

  Mal was also looking at it, curiously. “Hmm. Wait. Does cinnamon have a flavor that feels fiery upon the tongue while at the same time being sweet like honey and bitter like wood?

  “Yeah, reckon that’s close.” I said.

  “Ah-ha!” Mal gave a spin and a bow. “I believe I have encountered it before. Gran-gran teleported me to a most enchanting place once - I’d made mention that I’d wanted to see some primal beasts, so we took our tea on a cliff where we could watch a herd duck-billed striders scampering about below us. She scraped some bark off of a tree that looked very much like that illustration, ground it up with grain-grind, and sprinkled it on our cups.” He strained, and scratched his temple. “Oh bother, I can’t recall if she told me the name of the tree - sorry, old boy.”

  Mal had only just recently remembered his grandmother’s final words; it didn’t surprise me that there were still gaps in his memory. That said; this was a good starting point. Let’s see, vanilla would be native to Columbia so it likely grows in a place of similar latitudes and altitude - though the Wilderlands seem to have unreasonable climates for their positions on the map.

  Wait - the map! Of course! That’s it! I had at least one copy of the map of Earth, so…needless to say, we spent the rest of the night nerding out over cartography. I had an ulterior motive of course; because vanilla ain’t the only thing that grows at latitude 4.5 N.

  If there’s coffee in them hills, I’m gonna claim it!